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Million dollar baby didn't bag the Best adapted screenplay award, but it got some of the other top oscar awards like Best picture, director, actress and supporting actor.



This movie is based on the novel "Rope Burns" by F.X. Toole.Adapted by paul haggis. This is not a typical Rocky type boxing movie. Boxing is just the field on which a great story is told. Boxing is also used as a metaphor for explaining some philosophies. The movie is a multi layered one, exploring relationship between various characters, the spirit of boxing ,some moral questions etc.

Clint eastwood has directed the movie beautifully .It is hard to keep the audience interested in a movie with 3 characters that too 2 old guys with no villain. He seems to be very clear on what he wants to convey to the audience. He does not explain about what happened in Dunn's(clint) life, why his daughter estranged him but takes lot of time to develop the characters and their relationship. The movie is like a collection of small stories combined to give a big novel. Some of the characters when viewed alone become a story of their own. Like scrap(morgan freeman) an half blind ex boxer and his relationship with danger(kind of a retarded guy),Clint and hillary looking to find their broken FAMILY in each other etc.

Clint has broken down the whole movie into small pieces and has placed them so well. He mixes the boxing scenes with the plain dialogue’s. Various scenes that didn't have any connection to the main storyline at the first look add to the story line later.

Even though everybody had acted well. My pick is Hillary swank(Maggie Fitzgerald) , from her body language in boxing to her change from the bubbling enthusiastic girl to a hardened boxer and to a shattered woman, she rocks. Looks like she has done a lot of homework for the movie, you can see the difference in her body, the way she hits the speed bag , does her training etc.

This movie is definitely clint's best so far, better than Mystic river as a director. But it doesn't leave you with the impact of Mystic River though. The climax of mystic river comes crashing down on you. MDB leaves you with sorrow, but as soon as the movie ends, the mind races to the start of the movies to rerun the whole movie.